The health and fitness thread about random things

[Kim]

And sometimes you can greatly reduce the amount of transmission with simple engineering.  We treat drinking water to reduce the amount of infectious agents people are exposed to, which has generally been considered to be a Good Thing for public health, and there's no reason we couldn't do the same for the air in many public spaces (other than that nobody important stands to make a shitload of money from doing it).  If COVID has taught us anything, it's that many diseases are more airborne than we like to imagine.

And it's not like we don't need a bit push to retrofit HVAC anyway to reduce carbon emissions, so why not set some standards to mandate a much higher number of air changes, or a sensible amount of filtration while we're at it?  If nothing else, reducing the spread of diseases through hospitals, care homes, and the like would free up some healthcare resources.

Uncanny timing: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/Improving-Ventilation-in-buildings.html

MERV-13 appears to be USAnian for F7, which is a bit on the meh side, but it's probably the highest standard filter that you can drop-in to J Random existing HVAC system without overly restricting the airflow.

[Cudzoziemiec]

News on lyme:

Lingering Nerve Symptoms From Lyme Disease May Be Tied to Immune Response​
By Leroy Leo
May 11, 2023

(Reuters) - Neurologic complications of Lyme disease such as hand and feet numbness and pain that do not resolve with treatment may be due to an exaggerated immune response rather than the infection itself, a study published on Wednesday suggests.
Researchers found that Lyme disease patients with persistent central nervous system problems have high blood levels of interferon alpha, an inflammatory protein produced by the immune system in response to infection.
These central nervous system symptoms that can also include weakness, facial muscle paralysis, vision problems, fever, stiff neck, and severe headache are known as Lyme neuroborreliosis.
If the findings are confirmed in larger studies, immunity-suppressing medicines might be used to treat patients with persistent disabling neurologic after-effects of the disease, said senior researcher Dr. Klemen Strle of Tufts University School of Medicine.

Each year, nearly 500,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease, with another 200,000 cases believed to occur in western Europe, researchers said. It is caused by a bacteria carried and spread by ticks prevalent in the U.S. upper Midwest and the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states, as well as in Europe and some parts of Canada, especially in wooded areas.


Lyme neuroborreliosis occurs in up to 15% of those who contract the illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and most patients recover after treatment with antibiotics. However, around 10%-20% of patients continue to show symptoms even after treatment.
Earlier research found that Lyme-causing bacteria do not survive antibiotic treatment and therefore cannot be preventing recovery, according to the report in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a CDC publication.
For the current study, researchers in Slovenia took serial blood samples over the course of a year in 79 patients who had experienced Lyme neuroborreliosis during their acute infection, including 27 with new or lasting complications six months or more after treatment.

Patients whose symptoms had resolved by the start of the study had the lowest interferon levels. Those with the most severe and most persistent problems had the highest interferon levels, suggesting that the immune system never stopped responding leading to "low-grade, systemic inflammation," the researchers said.
Other illnesses with prolonged symptoms believed or known to be triggered by immune system over-reaction include COVID-19, influenza and mononucleosis, the researchers said.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Nancy Lapid and Bill Berkrot)

[rafletcher]

On my third cold in 2 months. Bah.

[Clare]

I'm getting a cold every two or three weeks at the moment - very annoying.

[T42]

Seem to have rebuggered the sacroiliac I displaced in 2013. Not as badly - back then I took 3 months to recover - but it's getting me every time I shift my position.  Got to help shepherding a bunch over 45k in the hills tomorrow: going to be riding in sack'o'spuds mode. You never know, it might sort it out.

[cycleman]

I've given in and am now using votarol gel on my right arthritic knee  :'(.

[cycleman]

I've just returned from a 20 mile potter and the votarol gel seems to be helping. I try a longer ride during the week 

[Cudzoziemiec]

 

[L CC]

I have a trapped nerve/pulled muscle/ crick in my neck. This has materialised the last two Sundays.

Is it possible that swimming in a cold lough in a wetsuit is setting this off? If so, anything I could/should do to stop it?

Last week I rode & swam on Monday with it. this week I  gave up riding after less than 5km yesterday and now can't turn my head at all, Mr Smith has driven me in to work. It's only 3 weeks till I swim Windermere and I need wetsuit time between now & then.

[T42]

I have a trapped nerve/pulled muscle/ crick in my neck. This has materialised the last two Sundays.

Osteocyte, aka parrot's beak spur, maybe.  I had one in my cervical vertebrae ~20 years ago, and if I moved my head in a particular way it would hook onto something and stop me.  I could disengage it by reversing the movement.  It eventually disappeared, possibly due to aggravated cycling.

https://www.spine-health.com/video/cervical-bone-spurs-symptoms-and-causes-animation

[L CC]

Interesting. I have bone spurs on my fingers and knees.

Dr Google has provided some anecdata that it might be wetsuit fit related.

[T42]

Good luck!

[mrcharly-YHT]

My shoulder hasn't been right since a tree branch hit it (I was taking down a small tree/very large bush). Hit me hard enough to knock me to the ground.

Gave it 6 weeks before seeing the doc, who referred me for an ultrasound.

Verdict a bit vague. They had trouble finding one tendon - it was surrounded by fluid and inflammation. Verbal report "Evidence of a torn tendon, muscle and historic calcification in the shoulder joint".

Seeing a physio on the 22nd.
It is a bugger, getting older. Things take a very long time to heal. Time was, I'd have bounced back from something like this in a week. Not over 2 months.

Seen physio.
They are confused. Expected weakness and pain (based on the ultrasound) in several directions - no pain at all.

I have some exercises to do, but I get the sense it is all just 'time will heal it'. The physio reckoned another 8 weeks.

[campagman]

for the past week I have been suffering the double whammy of High pollen levels and a cold, not nice. I have never really suffered proper hayfever but the last 20yrs or so I have been seeing some symptoms. This year is the worst I have seen. In previous years all symptoms have disappeared around Mid June so thinking It may be tree pollen that affects me, maybe. Also some things I have seen are typical of a head cold, for me.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I just encountered the irritating side of SNHS.

Eyes acting up a bit (tad blurry, achy), and pressure was up at last checkup.

So I figure I'll be sensible and go to the optiquack.

Who informs me they can't do an eye test, because it isn't due until October (I guess I could insist on 'going private' and paying).

Well, they do examine my eyes and say that my dry eye problem is definitely an issue still so lets deal with that (no argument there, I wake in the night to insert drops because eyes have completely dried up. Being unable to move eyeballs creates some *interesting* nightmares.).

[Beardy]

I’ve had enough now.

I saw the doctor last monday for an ear infection in my left ear which started on the previous Friday. By Monday it was hurting and the whole of the left side of my head was ‘tight’. The dr prescribed some ear spray.

The left side is still tender and hearing has not fully returned (fsvo fully obv.) but the right ear is now painful although the tightness hasn’t set in.

I might have to return to the doc to get oral antibiotics 

[mrcharly-YHT]

I’ve had enough now.

I saw the doctor last monday for an ear infection in my left ear which started on the previous Friday. By Monday it was hurting and the whole of the left side of my head was ‘tight’. The dr prescribed some ear spray.

The left side is still tender and hearing has not fully returned (fsvo fully obv.) but the right ear is now painful although the tightness hasn’t set in.

I might have to return to the doc to get oral antibiotics 

They will have prescribed left-ear spray.

You need to get some right-ear spray.

[Pingu]

Sounds a bit sinister.

[rafletcher]

Calls for some dexterity to use it on the opposite ear.

[T42]

Nah, just stick it right 'ere.

[cygnet]

Right ear, right now

[T42]

Or stick it in the left one and push hard.

[Beardy]

You’re all horrid  :'(

[woollypigs]

Beardy have you tried Sudafed ? Does not kill the infection or remove the pain, when I have had ear infections, but have made it so I could at least think about other stuff that pain and cutting parts of my body off in hope of less pain.

[Beardy]

Beardy have you tried Sudafed ? Does not kill the infection or remove the pain, when I have had ear infections, but have made it so I could at least think about other stuff that pain and cutting parts of my body off in hope of less pain.

I’m currently on daily oral antihistamine and antihistamine nasal spray to limit a near constant cough. The ever present congestion exacerbates ear infections when I get them as ‘me tubes’ get blocked. So, no I’ve not tried Sudafed specifically, but I think the congestion is as controlled as it can be.

Thanks for suggesting it though, I don’t pretend to know everything about ear infections (though you’d think I should, given how frequently I get them) so I’ll always listen to other peoples ideas and solutions.